2:12 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
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A day trip to Mt. Tamalpais on April 14, 2018.
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Heading out to Mt. Tamalpais from San Bruno
Finally, it was the perfect weather to spend time outdoors, A beautiful Sunday morning. After drinking a cup of coffee, me and my boyfriend got ready for the hike that we planned to go for a while. We left the house at 10:30 AM and followed the Google map’s direction. The traffic was heavy and it took us a while to get to Mt. Tamalpais state park. The traffic was mostly between the Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge.
10:33 AM
37°39’55.0”N 122°27’55.9”W
While it’s natural to want to jump into the car on a whim and drive to a favorite hiking trail, doing so is not necessarily the wisest of choices. Hiking is a lot like painting a house in that the preparation is just as important as the actual activity itself. Comfortable shoes, water, protein bars are the essentials. We already had our shoes on but we stopped at a gas station to buy some water and protein bars. Also, we checked the difficulty of the trail. Luckily, it was moderate which means not too hard and not so easy.
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Our Route from San Bruno to Mt.Temalpais
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2:12 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
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The drive was pretty relaxing to me since my boyfriend was driving and I was enjoying the scenery. Except as we got to the city the traffic was pretty heavy before the golden gate bridge. Since the weather was spectacular, there were so many people riding bikes and running on the side of the road.
11:18 AM
37°48’10.9”N 122°28’34.3”W
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Eventually, after passing all the traffic we got to the Golden Gate bridge and it’s always exciting to drive across the bridge and see the ocean from top of the bridge. The scenery is almost different depending on the weather and today was the day that the sky was blue without a single cloud.
11:27 AM
Right after passing the bridge we got to the rainbow tunnel that is recently renamed after the actor Robin Williams. I think it’s great that the tunnel is renamed after him. I never forget the day I heard about Robin William’s death. I was extremely sad as I grew up watching Mrs. Doubtfire and it was one of my favorite movies. The movie was also filmed in San Francisco.
37°48’40.8”N 122°28’39.3”W
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11:29 AM
37°50’43.6”N 122°29’09.8”W
This tunnel was originally built at the same time as the Golden Gate Bridge, with just a single bore and two lanes each way. In 1953-1954 a second bore was added and the highway widened to four lanes each way. From 1937-2015 the official name of the tunnel was The Waldo Tunnel, since it is located on the Waldo Grade. Waldo was a 19th century California politician. After 1969 it was much more commonly referred to as The Rainbow Tunnel because of the striking colors on the southern approach. In 2015 the State renamed the tunnel The Robin Williams tunnel, in honor of the late actor and comedian who grew up and lived in the area. Although he was famous for wearing rainbow suspenders as Mork from the TV show Mork and Mindy, he had already worn them as part of his stand up comic act before being signed for the show.
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As we were getting closer to the Mt. Tamalapais, the road was getting steeper and prettier. We had a good idea about the route we wanted to hike. And we already knew that we were going to have lunch when we got to the Stinson Beach after we hiked downhill. Usually a full stomach is not the best idea when you want to hike uphill but when you decide to go hiking with an empty stomach, you need to take it easy and take advantage of the restaurants near the beach.
12:00 PM
37°54’45.0”N 122°35’10.7”W
We finally found a parking spot and parked the car and started our hike. I was realizing that maybe I should have left my jacket in the car as I was getting very hot. The hike begins along the Dipsea Trail at Stinson Beach. It climbs gradually with many ocean views until you reach its’ junction with the Steep Ravine Trail. From here it climbs 1000 ft. to Pantoll ranger station in 1.5 miles. There are two significant waterfalls along Webb Creek in Steep Ravine. The upper one is interesting because you have to climb up the waterfall via a 10 ft. high ladder. These waterfalls are best seen in the winter or early spring months, after there has been a lot of rain. Once at Pantoll, cross the highway and head back down to Stinson Beach via the Matt Davis trail.
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2:12 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
On our
Our Route from San Bruno to Mt. Temalpais
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37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
After parking the car, we started walking towards the trail the viemade me excited. It was truly beautiful. The hike begins along the Dipsea Trail at Stinson Beach. It climbs gradually with many ocean views until you reach its’ junction with the Steep Ravine Trail. From here it climbs 1000 ft. to Pantoll ranger station in 1.5 miles. There are two significant waterfalls along Webb Creek in Steep Ravine. The upper one is interesting because you have to climb up the waterfall via a 10 ft. high ladder. These waterfalls are best seen in the winter or early spring months, after there has been a lot of rain. Once at Pantoll, cross the highway and head back down to Stinson Beach via the Matt Davis trail.
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12:20 PM
37°54’20.8”N 122°36’36.8”W
Stinson Beach and the surrounding area gets its name from former Landowner, Nathan H. Stinson. He bought the land surrounding Stinson Beach in 1866. Most of the surrounding hills were used to raise Cattle and Milk Cows. The first road to Stinson Beach was built in 1870, the road was built along the Pacific coast from the town of Sausalito, CA. After the road was built, tent camps were built along the willow trees at the beach leading to the name of Willow Camp. Willow Camp was the town’s original name. In 1896, the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway opened, making Willow Camp easier to travel to and from. Tourists could finally ride the train to West Point Inn. From there, they could walk to the beach or rent a stagecoach to take them down to the beach.
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Spectacular View of the Pacific Ocean
2:46 PM
37°54’13.9”N 122°37’26.3”W
We had the best view and we could see the ocean. The beach is expansive and flat making that makes it perfect for a little walk. The sand is fine and smooth making digging or building sand castles perfect. The water is shallow making it great for young kids to play and swim. With the Muir Woods and rock formations in the background, this beach is picture perfect. An added bonus: dolphins, seals and whales can be seen from the shore at times. There is a small concession stand, or eat locally in the beautiful small town.
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We passed by a cute little motel with an interesting decoration. We popped into Breakers Cafe to refuel after hiking down. The Yelp rating had me a bit worried, but Breakers was a great choice! We had beers, shrimp tacos and some chips and salsa. The outdoor seating was beautiful, interior is cute too, but the fire pit outside stole the show. It provided just the right amount of warmth for a cool Marin County day without cooking us. The chairs were cool, too—classic deck chairs with adorable pillows. I thought I’d be begging to be airlifted back to the car (we had to hike back up after eating here), but I survived.
2:12 PM
37°53’53.9”N 122°38’20.9”W
After a cold beer and a nice meal, we were ready to hike back up. It was pretty hard at the beginning to hike after a big meal and specially that the trail was pretty steep and I was out of breath. I was taking breaks every opportunity I could get to catch my breath.
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On our way back we saw a black-tailed deer. Mt. Tamalpais is Home to many animals; raccoons, gray foxes, squirrels, bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, and black-tailed deer. Red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, great horned, spotted, barn and screech owls, woodpeckers, Steller’s jays and black ravens.
2:41 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
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2:55 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
Within the park, more than sixty miles of trails meander through the Park’s landscape and connect with a 200 mile trail network through adjacent public lands. The 3500 seat Cushing Memorial Theater, 2,000 feet above San Francisco Bay, has been the site of the annual Mountain Play since 1913.
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4:23 PM
37°54’45.0”N 122°35’10.7”W
I was glad that we were getting closer to were we parked our car. I was hot and exhausted. We were guessing that we were in the right direction. We dropped the pin on our phone where we parked the car, so we could find our car. We almost passed our car as we forgot where exactly parked the car. I was exhausted and tired and nothing could make me happier when I found the car at the parking lot. We finally got to the car and started driving back towards home.
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On our way back home we enjoyed the scenery as we drove down the hill. Hoping to get home early and not hit the traffic on our way back. As I was craving something sweet we stopped by a Safeway at Susalito and I bought my most favorite Starbucks drink, Caramel Latte. I could not be happier as I was sipping my coffee we were listening to my play listin the car. By every sip of my coffee, my body temperature raised higher. We passed through the golden gate bridge and it was indeed a beautiful day. People were biking on walking on the bridge and the ocean view was magnificent. In fact, it was a perfect day for hiking and spending time outside. We had a pretty smooth drive without traffic to home.
2:12 PM
37°38’41.4”N 122°24’21.8”W
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